I saw a board the other day that was EPS/Epoxy and was told it was a UV resin. Does anyone here have a handle on this stuff?
could it have been Epoxy with UV blockers? instead of UV curing?
I have used SP (German) and Clearsurf (French) UV epoxy.
It has a UV protection agent.
Both are translucent purple and not transparent.
Great stuff and cristal clear once applied.
Extra protection thats for sure.
I’m not talking about UV protection, I’m talking about UV curing. As in, you laminate, expose to UV light and it cures in 5 minutes or less. Cures clear on a board, BTW. I held the thing in my hands.
I heard a rumor some months back that one of the major surf epoxy manufrs. was going to introduce such a thing this fall, but not a peep since.
MrJ, is that definitely epoxy? I had some suncure stuff like that before and it sure didn't smell like it. Had a hard time getting it to kick hard enough to sand also. Same brand as your picture. I don't think it said epoxy resin on the label, more like, "epoxy repair kit" or something like that.
It does not exist and it never will. It possibly is some other resin that is PS compatible.
Epoxy is a polyaddition and not a catalyst reaction. It’s already discussed in the past, search the forums.
[img_assist|nid=1045791|title=UV ding repair epoxy|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=480]
this is a ding repair kit I recently bought from the local surfshop. I used it to repair a few small dings on epoxy boards. It set in a cool temp of approx 15C and hazy sunshine. Gelled in 20min or so.
I think it would be useful for what is being discussed on the composite ding repair thread
Hans, that was my thought too… however, try putting “uv cure epoxy” into Google and quite a bit comes up. Nothing that looks like you could readily make a surfboard out of, but still interesting…
http://www.compositesworld.com/products/nanosilica-filled-uv-curable-epoxy.aspx
Just yesterday a friend said he wanted to use an epoxy paint on a water heater door. I asked if it was two part mix to activate, or an air cure. He said it was a one part. I have heard of epoxy boat paint for years. We wondered if the "epoxy" was maybe the suspended solids, and not the adhesive. Same with the ding kit, I don't know about either.
Sickdog
Solarez makes a vinyl ester epoxy UV cure resin available
here in the US. I have used it on a few pu boards as a lam resin
and sanding resin (after adding wax) with good results. It has a
different flex and I have added heavier stomp pad glass and still
kept the flex. Haven’t tried it yet on eps, which according to the
manufacturer, needs to be sealed first. (?) Will be posting my
experiments in the near future. Boards are coming out lighter
as I do sanded finish (some with speed coats) so a polished look
is not critical. Reasonable online price too, and ships without
extra fees. Just my 2c, but I think it is really worth a try if u are
a backyarder.
Have you heard of Bio Resin "Ecocomp UV-L? Im super keen to give it a go but the cost is beyond my means at the moment…
"EcoComp® UV-L resin is guranteed to contain 96% vegetable oil. The remainder is an Ultra Violet initiator which can be activated by UV light sources or even the Sun itself.
The product contains no VOC's and needs no acetone or other harmul solvents to clean up after use.
Working time is increased as catalysation does not take place until the resin is exposed to Ultra Violet light (typically 359nm) Curing times vary according to the intensity of the light and depth of composite, but curing can be as little as 3 to 6 minutes. Unused and unexposed material can be returned to the working container, saving yet more material and the environment.
This material is ideal for use with woven glass strand matts.
No materials need to be added as EcoComp® UV-L has the initiator already blended with the resin. Curing can be carried out using standard UV tanning tubes."
I’ve used the UV Vinyl-Esther and I like it a lot. I think it’s better than poly for toughness and flex. The only thing I don’t like about it is that its not as white as poly. If I’m doing a clear lamination I usually add a touch of blue tint to it to offset the golden color of the resin. It does age yellowish, kind of a cross between a yellow and a gold.
My favorite daily driver is a board I did about 5-6 years ago in PU/VE; I did a red/orange resin layup with a clear nose; the nose area has since yellowed to compliment the red/orange. I’ve gotten several dings in the bottom over the years but the deck is still in remarkably good shape - some pressures but no signs of cracking along the stringer. That deck has outlasted the professional PU/PE laminations on my son’s boards that had the heavy 2x6 lams w/gloss finish. The resin is a little lighter, too.
I’ve heard the “seal the blank and use it” explanation for EPS before. Maybe it would work for someone else but I’m not inclined to try it. I’ve also heard that you can use an epoxy lam and finish it off with the VE, which supposedly bonds fine with epoxy. I do know that VE takes a PE finish like a champ because that’s how I have always finished off my VE lams.
I would guess that the 'epoxy' UV kits are made using a solvent-free,UV-curing cyanoacrylate. I used this stuff in the lab quite a bit. Very hard, crystal clear, sticks to anything, and cures quickly in uv (fractions of a second with a generated UV source). Check out this site for info on some high-tech resins/adhesives www.dymax.com
does vynilester smells as hard as polyester or is it more like epoxy?
My experience with VE is that it has less “smell” but there still definitely is some - you would always wear a mask when doing anything other than a quickie spot repair. The literature says it has lots fewer VOCs that PE, but more than epoxy. Cleanup is with acetone (which I don’t care for), but because its UV actuated you can actually make it so you waste even less of it than epoxy in a conventional wet lam or fill coat. I have a can with about 1/2" of resin that I use for ding repairs that I leave the brush in so I never have to even clean the brush; just use it and put it back in the can with the lid on.
As for hardness I’d say VE is a lot more like PE than epoxy, but it also has more flex than PE. If you catalyze a thin layer of it on a soft drink can you can flex it a lot more before it cracks, almost as much as epoxy. To me, VE seems like its about in the middle between the two in most aspects, including cost. Given the choice between using S Glass or VE as an upgrade over a PU/PE build I think I’d go with VE.
My favorite non-epoxy combo is VE lamination and (light) fill, with a PE finish. I basically won’t do a PE lamination, UV or not.
Hi
i make Solarez resin systems and I think we have a good UV cure “epoxy” system right now. We are about to launch a video on the website (solarez.com). I use the word “epoxy” in parenthesis because our "epoxy is only about 20% epoxy. The majority of it is an aliphatic urethane. The reason for this is because epoxies yellow badly. The reason for so much time in developing a glassing system is because as of only recently (after Clark’s demise) has EPS been such a popular blank. The primary problems to have overcome were solvency with most monomers (i.e. the monomers melting the blank) or the exotherm melting the blank or monomers whose oxygen inhibition were so severe that the resin stayed hopelessly tacky or even wet on the surface. To make a long story short, I think our new “epoxy” is ready and super tough. - Gary
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MrJ, is that definitely epoxy? I had some suncure stuff like that before and it sure didn't smell like it. Had a hard time getting it to kick hard enough to sand also. Same brand as your picture. I don't think it said epoxy resin on the label, more like, "epoxy repair kit" or something like that.
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g'day Surfthis, sorry for the later reply, I only got to check the small print on the weekend. It didn't mention any chemicals, just said it was glass filled - it has a cloudy gel like consistency. However the big writing clearly says it is epoxy.
Soooo, it’s a functional UV glassing system for EPS that includes a urethane component as well as an epoxy component? Does that mean that a polyesther or vinylesther hotcoat will reasonably bond with it? If so, I could see doing a lamination and fill in the epoxy and using a PE or VE finish and basically get the best of both resins in a DIY-proof UV actuation.
Hi Gary, is this new epoxy system with the urethane, the same as the vinly ester one that is on the solarez website or are these 2 seperate products? I am very interested in the potential of urethane resins and am a big fan of the uv cure poly for doing ding repairs. Thanks
cheers